art apps

When I reviewed ArtRage some of you asked me to take a look Art Set Pro as well. Since I'm not one to back down from a challenge, I coughed up the $6.99 and downloaded myself a copy. So, was it worth it? Well…

Procreate by Savage Interactive is the best power-drawing and painting tool I've used on the iPad and it's just hit version 2. Included in the update is 64-bit support for iPhone 5s, iPad Air, and Retina iPad mini, as well as an all new, all iOS 7 icon and design. There's also an improved gallery, and even better - new GPU-acclerated filters like Gaussian Blur, Sharpen, Noise, Hue, saturation & brightness, Color Balance (Highlights, Midtones, Shadows), and Curves (Gamma, Red, Green, Blue).

Foldify by Pixle, one of the more clever recent iPad apps, has updated to version 1.2. When Foldify originally launched, you could pick one of several paper cutout forms, draw whatever you wanted onto them, print them out, and make little paper figures/toys out of them. It was and is delightful! (I made the HULK!) But...

Repix is an art photography app for iPhone and iPad by Sumoing that offers a unique experience of mixing painting with photo editing. Instead of simply adding filters, Repix includes a bunch effects that you can paint and mix and match onto specific areas of your photos.

If you own a printer, Foldify will make it fun again. If you don't own a printer, Foldify will make you seriously consider rushing out to get one. The reason for that is Foldify's ability to project itself from the iPad, where the app runs, to the real world, where the app's results live. The idea is remarkable simply -- draw one pre-defined templates, then print them out, fold them up, and enjoy real, touchable, arrangeable models of what you made. The execution is even more remarkable, because the developers managed to keep the app as simple as the idea, and that's no easy feat.

Procreate, one of the best art apps for the iPad, has been updated to version 1.7, which adds a ton of new features, including support for 4K Cinema canvas sizes, a new, full screen mode, and a bunch of new blend modes including: color, saturation, hue, luminosity, overlay, hard light, soft light, linear burn, color dodge, color burn, difference, and subtract.

Foldify is an upcoming iPad app that will let you create amazing 3D paper art right from your iPhone. Pick a form, paint it to your liking, AirPrint to suitable paper/card, fold it, and then the real fun begins.

But why am I telling you all this? Just watch the teaser video, smile, and wait for the launch.

(Or if you're really geeky, and want something to read in the meantime, check out this blog post on merowing by developer Krzysztof Zabłocki on how the line drawings were smoothed with cocos2d.)